


Break the Rules and Go For Broke

by Denois



Series: The Rules [2]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: First Date, First Kiss, Fluff, Getting Together, Hops pov, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-18
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2020-05-14 11:02:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19271953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Denois/pseuds/Denois
Summary: Hops had a clearly defined set of rules on who he could fall for.Don’t fall for a teammate. Don’t fall for an upperclassman. Don’t fall for a white boy. Don’t fall for someone your teammates already have a crush on. Don’t fall for a straight boy.Somehow, after he'd managed to say the last where Dex could hear him, Hops found himself at Annie's trying to convince himself that even if Dex wasn't straight, the rest of the rules still applied. But it's a little late to try to avoid a crush when he's already on a date.





	Break the Rules and Go For Broke

**Author's Note:**

  * For [historical_allusions](https://archiveofourown.org/users/historical_allusions/gifts).



> Thank you to [Draskireis](https://archiveofourown.org/users/draskireis), [Lukutoukka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lukutoukka), and [B_Frizzy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/b_frizzy) for the beta reads.
> 
> And a great big thank you to my followers. This fic is for [Historical_allusions](https://archiveofourown.org/users/historical_allusions) who won my 600 follower giveaway and was super patient while I took 3 1/2 months to get this written. The request was:
> 
> i'm a really big sucker for established relationships and/or rarepairs and i've kind of been on a Whiskey kick lately. Could you write something sweet about him and his lax bro? Or any scenes from the "Change the Oil, Change the Rules" or your "Family Practice" fics! i loved them both!
> 
> I was also asked to keep it to no more than 35% angst.
> 
> "Change the Oil, Change the Rules" ended with Hops and Dex planning a date, so I thought it would be great to see what happened on that date. I hope you enjoy it. :)

Hops sat at a back table in Annie’s, concentrating on pouring packet after packet of non dairy creamer into his coffee. He took a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth and recited his rules to himself again.

Don’t fall for a teammate. Don’t fall for an upperclassman. Don’t fall for a white boy. Don’t fall for someone your teammates already have a crush on. Don’t fall for a straight boy.

Okay. The last one didn’t apply to Dex apparently. But the other four still definitely did. 

Another deep breath. It was just coffee.

Some of the guys on the team, the ones who didn’t hang around the Haus, had told him that Dex had a stick crammed up his ass. That Dex was emotionally constipated. That couldn’t actually be true, given the teammates that Hops was pretty sure were crushing on Dex. But if it was the case, spending some time together, one on one, would make it obvious and Hops could get over his infatuation. They probably wouldn’t even get on together very well. They’d both leave Annie’s glad that they’d made the very adult decision to just be friends.

Hops nodded to himself. It would be fine. He took a sip of his coffee and made a face. Still way too bitter. He grabbed a handful of sugar packets and started pouring them in.

He was on the fourth packet when the door opened and he looked up. Dex stepped in and glanced around with his shoulders hunched. Until his eyes locked onto Hops and then he visibly relaxed and his mouth quirked up in a small smile. Dex inclined his head and then got in line to order. 

A couple of minutes later, Dex slid into the seat across from Hops and took a slow sip of his black coffee.

Hops couldn’t help himself, his face twisted in disgust. “I don’t know how you can drink it like that.”

Dex raised his eyebrows and looked at the empty creamer and sugar packets as Hops tried another sip of his own coffee before pulling another face. It was still terrible.

“I guess I just got used to dealing with it. My uncle would bring a big thermos of black coffee on the boat and that was pretty much my only option for something to drink. At least this stuff doesn’t require chewing on occasion.”

He paused and nodded at Hops’ mug. “If that much hasn’t helped it, maybe you just don’t like coffee?”

Hops let out a sigh and pushed his mug to the side. “Yeah. I keep trying. It’s the adult drink, right? We’re in college. We’re supposed to survive on coffee and ramen and day old pizza. Or something like that. But it’s just disgusting.” 

Dex nodded and tapped the side of his mug twice. “Be right back.”

Hops looked up sharply and watched him return to the counter. He came back a few minutes later, as promised, and pushed a mug in front of Hops while sipping from the other fresh mug. 

“Much better. No reason to drink something neither of us even like.” He was smiling at Hops and there was a bit of cream or melted marshmallow above his upper lip.

Hops couldn’t tear his eyes away. It was an absurd thought, the desire to lick the bit of marshmallow off Dex’s lip. It went against all the rules. Plus, a second later, Dex’s tongue darted out and swept the marshmallow away. 

Hops allowed himself to stop and actually look at the man opposite him. He’d tried to say that there was no need for Dex to shower and change before they met at Annie’s, but Dex had insisted. (“My ma will kill me if I go out covered in grease.”) And really, Hops had to agree it had been the right move, because Dex’s hair was still damp and curling slightly around his ears as it dried, and there were small droplets glistening along his neck where he hadn’t dried off completely. Like he’d been in such a hurry to get to their coffee date that he couldn’t even take the time to dry off properly. 

Hops felt his cheeks burn and he ducked his head down, fully prepared to hide behind his mug of cocoa. Until he noticed the marshmallow in the mug. 

“Is this a marshmallow cat? I didn’t know they had those.”

“Yeah. They usually only use them for kids, but I asked Anita if we could get them. They’re cute. And, well, they remind me of my cat back home.” 

Hops lifted his mug and took a careful sip. He licked his lips appreciatively, it was really good cocoa, and then met Dex’s gaze again. “I always wanted to have a cat. But my dad and sister are allergic, so I was vetoed.” 

“Oh man, that sucks. I can’t imagine not having a cat. I mean, my mom has had Clarance my whole life. And then there’s the dock cats. They always hang around, hoping to snag something from the catch.” 

Hops felt his smile twist wryly. “I’m jealous, man. Maybe if I live off campus next year I can get one.” He took a long pull of his cocoa. “I’ll have to start being more adult though. Drinking cocoa like a kid.” He stopped and shook his head. “That’s not the sort of thing a responsible cat father does.”

Dex snorted and then held up a hand. “I’m sorry. It’s just. Being an adult means you don’t have to do things just because you ‘should’. You can make your own rules, and chose when to bend or break them. You can eat breakfast for dinner and ice cream for breakfast, just don’t tell the coaches, and you can drink cocoa instead of coffee because cocoa actually tastes decent.” He paused and gestured with his hand. “Just. Do things because they’re right for you. Not because you think it’s what ‘adults’ do. From what I can tell, everyone’s just making it up as they go, anyway.”

Hops tilted his head in tentative acknowledgement. He wasn’t sure that he was really on board with rule bending and breaking. Rules provided structure and made sure things worked correctly. Rules stopped cheating. Or at least punished it. Kept things aligned.

The ceramic of Dex’s mug clinked against the table as he set it down, empty. “Do you want to keep hanging out?” 

Hops watched as Dex’s fingers moved minutely around the handle of the mug, as though he was nervous that Hops wouldn’t agree to continue...whatever this was. He looked over to his own mug and realized that he’d just about finished as well. “Sure. Did you have something in mind?”

* * *

Hops wasn’t sure where he expected Dex to take him, but the arcade was a surprise. He supposed it made sense - the whole team knew that he had won some video game tournaments, though those were all console. He hadn’t been to an arcade in ages.

Dex put a bill into the token machine and then poured some into Hops’s hands. “Ok, what do you want to do first?”

“Well, skee-ball I guess. Isn’t there like a rule that you have to play skee-ball at the arcade?”

Dex looked at him with a raised brow. “No rules, remember?”

“But isn’t that, in itself, a rule?”

There was a short pause and then Dex grinned. “Ok. You got me there. If you want to play skee-ball, we will play skee-ball.”

“If you don’t want to, we don’t have to.”

Dex bumped his shoulder against Hops’s, and Hops ducked his head in response. “Nah, skee-ball is fun. Let’s see if I still got the skills.”

They played skee-ball for awhile. Dex did still have the skills. It took a couple of games for him to get acclimated, but he ended up with a high score. Hops didn’t do shabby himself, but he might have spent more time watching the way Dex moved than concentrating on proper rolling technique. After awhile they moved over to a racing game, which Dex complained wasn’t accurate to actual driving when Hops thoroughly beat him, but he was smiling when he did. 

Then Hops saw an old two player Gauntlet machine. There was a young boy, probably about eleven, standing at it and stomping his foot as his character died. He looked up as they approached.

“This game is really hard.”

Hops gave him a commiserating look. “It is, yeah. I always found it was a bit easier with a partner, though.” 

The boy looked between them. “I guess you want to play together then.” His shoulders drooped and it was clear that he’d hoped to keep playing.

Hops was about to say that they would just go play Soul Caliber instead, but Dex beat him to it.

“Actually, why don’t you two play for a bit? I need to go…” He trailed off and gestured vaguely towards the restrooms.

Hops flashed him a smile and then turned back to the kid. “What do you say? Think we could beat the game?”

The kid reminded him of his little brother, and it was easy to get focused on defeating the forces of evil with him. So focused that he didn’t realize how long they’d been playing until he realized that he was out of tokens. 

“Sorry, man. Looks like I’m done. Thanks for letting me join you.” Hops held out a fist and the kid bumped it. 

“Thanks for playing with me. You’re right, that was a lot more fun. I should go find my brother anyway.”

The kid ran off and Hops looked around for Dex. Now that he realized how long it had been, it seemed weird that Dex hadn’t returned. Except, apparently he had. Dex was standing a few feet behind him watching with a soft smile. 

“I didn’t realize you were back. We could have played something else together.”

Dex lifted a shoulder in an easy shrug. “You two were having a good time. Seemed a shame to break up a great team like that.” 

Hops couldn’t help but smile back. “Well, I used up all my tokens. Guess it’s my turn to watch you play for awhile.”

“Actually, I’m out of tokens, too. Guess it’s time to see what we can afford from the prize cabinet.”

Hops thought it was a waste to run his tickets through the automatic counter. The only game he’d played that gave them was skee-ball, so he had twenty-seven total. But he figured it was probably a rule born from people claiming miscounts, so he didn’t argue it. 

“Ok, well, I need to pick out which of these pencil toppers I want, then.”

“Hey, add my tickets to his.” 

“Sure thing.” The teenage attendant seemed bored, but Hops didn’t look up, just moved to the prizes for more tickets. 

Dex had done a bit better on skee-ball. Maybe combined they’d have enough to both get one of the little harmonicas.

“Okay, your new total is 1,439.”

His head shot up to look at the display on the counter. “What?”

“What do you want to get?”

Hops kept staring at Dex as he moved over to look at the prizes. “There’s no way you got that many tickets from skee-ball. Nobody gets that many tickets from skee-ball.”

“Of course not. I played a few games while you were playing Gauntlet. They’ve got some hats, but do you even like CSI?”

“Uh, no. I don’t.” Hops stared at Dex for another moment before turning back to the prizes. “Oh, they have a stuffed cat. Man, it would take most of the tickets and you wouldn’t be able to get anything cool.”

Dex looked over where he was looking. “Which one do you like?”

“Uh, the Siamese looking one, I think.”

Dex nodded. “The Siamese cat, two of these harmonicas, blue and…”

“Yellow.” 

“Yellow. And, four of those big bouncy balls.” 

The attendant didn’t so much as raise a brow at them as he pulled out the prizes for them.

* * *

They walked in silence for a few blocks before Dex finally spoke up hesitantly. “So. Are there any other rules I should know?”

Hops ducked his head and focused on the plush cat he was holding. “Uh yeah. Don’t fall for a teammate. Don’t fall for an upperclassman. Don’t fall for a white boy. Don’t fall for someone your teammates already have a crush on. And you know about the don’t fall for a straight boy.”

Dex was quiet for a few seconds and Hops risked a glance to see how he was taking it. He was nodding slightly and didn’t seem upset.

“Those sound like solid rules. Good rules to reduce drama in your life.”

“Yeah.” Hops couldn’t help feeling a little let down. He knew that liking Dex broke all the rules, but he couldn’t really help himself there either.

“The thing is, I like you. But I’m not going to pressure you. Being friends isn’t less than dating or a consolation prize, so I’m happy with that if that’s what you want.” Dex didn’t turn at look at him, or break stride or anything. Just kept walking and gazing towards the horizon.

Hops licked his lips then reached out to grab Dex’s elbow. Dex finally slowed and looked at him.

Before he could think better of it, he stepped in and pressed his lips to Dex’s. Just a quick, soft, small thing. But he smiled as he saw Dex smile.

“Sometimes you gotta break the rules.”

**Author's Note:**

> I can be found on the Tumbls at [SexyDexyNurse](https://sexydexynurse.tumblr.com/).
> 
> I haven't been to an arcade in years, probably over a decade. I have no idea how much prizes cost anymore. Dex used the time while Hops was playing Gauntlet to play those boring games that actually give out decent amounts of tickets so he could make sure Hops got something at least halfway worthwhile from the prize counter.


End file.
